1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to methods and apparatus to assemble and/or disassemble a string of tubular members. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to an apparatus to be coupled to a tubular running tool during assembly of a string of tubular members, such as oilfield tubular members in an oilfield drilling rig.
2. Background Art
In oilfield exploration and production operations, various oilfield tubular members are used to perform important tasks, including, but not limited to, drilling the wellbore and casing a drilled wellbore. For example, a long assembly of drill pipes, known in the industry as a drill string, may be used to rotate a drill bit at a distal end to create the wellbore. Furthermore, after a wellbore has been created, a casing string may be disposed downhole into the wellbore and cemented in place to stabilize, reinforce, or isolate (among other functions) portions of the wellbore. As such, strings of drill pipe and casing may be connected together, such as end-to-end by threaded connections, in which a female “pin” member of a first tubular member is configured to threadably engage a corresponding male “box” member of a second tubular member. Alternatively, a casing string may be made-up of a series of male-male ended casing joints coupled together by female-female couplers. The process by which the threaded connections are assembled (e.g., screwed together) is called “making-up” a threaded connection, and the process by which the connections are disassembled is referred to “breaking-out” the threaded connection. As would be understood by one having ordinary skill, individual pieces (or “joints”) of oilfield tubular members may come in a variety of weights, diameters, configurations, and lengths.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, multiple views are shown of a drilling rig 101 used to run one or more tubular members 111 (e.g., casing, drill pipe, etc.) downhole into a wellbore 113. As shown, the drilling rig 101 includes a frame structure known as a “derrick” 102, from which a traveling block 103, an elevator first gripping apparatus 105 (e.g., a casing running tool or conventional string elevator), a top drive 145, and a second gripping apparatus 107 (e.g., slip assembly or spider) may be used to manipulate (e.g., raise, lower, rotate, hold, etc.) a tubular member 111. The traveling block 103 is a device that is suspended from at or near the top of the derrick 102, in which the traveling block 103 may move up-and-down (i.e., vertically as depicted) to raise and/or lower the tubular member 111. The traveling block 103 may be a simple “pulley-style” block and may have a hook from which objects below (e.g., first gripping apparatus 105 and/or top drive 145) may be suspended.
Additionally, the first gripping apparatus 105 may be coupled below the traveling block 103 and/or the top drive 145 (shown in FIG. 1A) to selectively grab or release a tubular member 111 as the tubular member 111 is to be raised and/or lowered within and from the derrick 102. Further, the top drive 145 may include one or more guiding rails and/or a track 108 disposed adjacent to the top drive 145. The guiding rails or track 108 may be used by the top drive 145 to support and guide the top drive 145 as the top drive 145 is raised and/or lowered within the derrick 102. An example of a top drive is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,596, filed on Aug. 3, 1982, and entitled “Drilling of Wells with Top Drive Unit,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
Typically, the first gripping apparatus 105 includes movable gripping members (e.g., slips) attached thereto and movable between an open position and a closed position. In the closed position, the first gripping apparatus 105 supports the tubular member 111 such the tubular member 111 may be lifted and/or lowered, and rotated if so equipped, e.g., using a tubular (e.g., casing) running tool connected to the quill of the top drive 145. In the open position, the first gripping apparatus 105 may release the tubular member 111 and move away therefrom to allow the tubular member 111 to be engaged with or removed from the first gripping apparatus 105 and/or the second gripping apparatus 107. For example, the first gripping apparatus 105 may release the tubular member 111 after the tubular member 111 is threadably connected to a downhole string 115 supported by the drilling rig 101.
Further, the second gripping apparatus 107 may be used to grip the downhole string 115 and suspend the downhole string 115 from the rig, e.g., from within the rotary table 109. The second gripping apparatus 107 may be disposed above the rotary table 109, or may be disposed within the rotary table 109, as shown, such as flush with the rotary table 109. As such, the second gripping apparatus 107 may be used to suspend the downhole string 115 while one or more tubular members 111 are connected or disconnected from the downhole string 115.
When assembling a downhole string 115 of tubular members 111 together, a tubular member 111 may be removed from a pipe rack 112 and pulled, or otherwise transported, towards an access opening 121, for example, a v-door, within the derrick 102 of the drilling rig 101. The tubular member 111 may be loaded onto a pipe ramp 125 adjacent to the access opening 121, in which an end stop 131 may abut an end of the tubular member 111 to support the tubular member 111 against access opening 121.
To facilitate this assembly process, a tubular handling mechanism 151, such as single joint manipulator, shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, may be used to transport the tubular member 111 into and within the derrick 102 of the drilling rig 101. For example, the tubular handling mechanism 151 may be connected to the top drive 145 and have a single joint elevator 143 attached thereto. A tubular handling mechanism 151 may be rotationally connected to a quill of the top drive 145 such that the tubular handling mechanism 151 is rotatable with respect to the quill of the top drive 145, such as rotatable about a vertical axis of the quill of the top drive 145. As such, a rotation inhibiting apparatus may be disposed between the tubular handling mechanism 151 and the rig 101, e.g., a non-rotating portion of top drive 145, to prevent rotation between the tubular handling mechanism 151 via the non-rotating portion of the top drive 145, if desired.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the single joint elevator 143 of the tubular handling mechanism 151 may grasp an end of the tubular member 111 located within an access opening 121. The tubular handling mechanism 151 may contact a shoulder of the tubular member 111 or alternatively include a slip assembly used to grasp (e.g., frictionally) the tubular member 111. As such, the tubular handling mechanism 151 may raise the tubular member 111 up into the derrick 102 and may align the tubular member 111, such as shown in FIG. 2B, with the downhole string 115, in which the tubular member 111 may threadably connect to lengthen the downhole string 115.
As such, and as shown in FIG. 2C, a tubular running tool 141 driven by a top drive 145 may be used to threadably connect the tubular member 111 to the downhole string 115. Specifically, the tubular running tool 141 may have one or more gripping members 147 that may move radially inward and outward with respect to an axis 149 of the tubular running tool 141 and/or the top drive 145 (e.g., quill of the top drive 145). Gripping members 147, such as with an internally gripping tool in FIG. 2C, may be used to grip an internal surface of the tubular member 111, and/or gripping members 147 may grip an external surface of the tubular member 111, such as with an external gripping tool shown in FIGS. 2D and 2E (shown without the typical connection of the bore of the tubular member 111 to a fluid source, but may be included without departing from the scope of the present application). As such, the quill of the top drive 145 may rotate the tubular running tool 141, thereby rotating the tubular member 111 gripped by the tubular running tool 141. During rotation, the tubular member 111 may threadably connect to the downhole string 115 to lengthen the downhole string 115. As such, as used herein, a top drive 145 may include any motor and/or powered device, such as a power swivel, that may be used to rotate a tubular member 111.
After connecting the tubular member 111 to the downhole string 115, the second gripping apparatus 107 may disengage from the downhole string 115 to enable the downhole string 115 to be lowered further downhole. As such, after lowering, the second gripping apparatus 107 may re-engage the top of the downhole string 115, such as to have another tubular member 111 connected thereto.
A reverse process, or one similar to the process described above, may be used, such as to remove one or more tubular members 111 from the drilling rig 101. As such, when removing a tubular member 111 from the drilling rig 101, the downhole string 115 may be raised into the derrick 102 to have the tubular member 111 extending above the second gripping apparatus 107 and rotary table 109. The second gripping apparatus 107 may be used to support the remainder of the downhole string 115 below the rotary table 109, in which the tubular member 111 may be threadably disconnected from the downhole string 115. For example, the tubular running tool 141 may grip the tubular member 111 and the top drive 145 may rotate the tubular member 111 to threadably disconnect the tubular member 111 from the downhole string 115. The tubular handling mechanism 151, or other handling mechanism or device, may transport the tubular member 111 out of the derrick 102 of the drilling rig 101 to have the tubular member 111, for example, placed upon the pipe rack 112.
However, when making-up or breaking-out threaded connections between a tubular member 111 and the downhole string 115, the tubular member 111 may move in a vertical direction (along the axis of the tubular member 111) with respect to the downhole string 115. For example, as a tubular member 111 is threadably connected with a downhole string 115, the tubular member 111 and the downhole string 115 may move vertically with respect to each other. Specifically, the tubular member 111 may move vertically downward with respect to the drilling rig 101 as the downhole string 115 remains relatively stationary with respect to the drilling rig 101. This movement of the tubular member 111 with respect to the downhole string 115 enables a proper engagement between the male and female threads of the threaded connection between the tubular member 111 and the downhole string 115.
As such, 151 the top drive 145, and/or the tubular running tool 141 may need to compensate and/or offset the vertical and rotational movement of the tubular member 111 with respect to the downhole string 115. Particularly, as the tubular member 111 is rotated to threadably connect to and/or disconnect from the downhole string 115, 151 the top drive 145, and/or the tubular running tool 141 will need to move vertically with the tubular member 111 to maintain proper engagement therewith. A tubular handling mechanism 151 may be mounted to a rotatable and/or rotating member (e.g., to quill of top drive 145, a sub connected thereto, and/or tubular running tool 141), but it may be desired to retain the tubular handling mechanism 151 (or other component) rotationally stationary relative to the rig. Accordingly, there exists a need to restrict rotation of a component mounted (e.g., via bearing) to a rotatable and/or rotating member while allowing vertical movement (e.g., active movement during rotation or adjustment during setup, such as owing to differing distances between a rotationally stationary portion of a top drive rig and the component to be restricted from rotation).